7 things to do before you plant your spring garden

Spring is a fantastic time to be out in the garden. The ground is finally becoming less soggy after months of accumulated ice and snow. Birds, butterflies, and bees are once again visiting your garden. Likewise, you can finally grow new plants. Here are 7 things to do before you plant your spring garden.

1) Pick a desirable planting area

Take a look around your garden and select an area where your new crops can get adequate sunlight. Vegetables typically require around six hours of sunlight every day. Moreover, ensure that the area has fertile and well-draining soil. It should be where you can water the crops with ease. In addition, pay attention to the trees. They don’t have much foliage right now, but they will soon develop leaves that will cover more areas with shade.

2) Consider the final size of each plant

Apart from picking an area, you must also know how much space each of your plants needs to fully grow. This way, you will avoid the mistake of growing too many plants in a given area — you don’t want them to compete for nutrients. Likewise, conduct sufficient research on how long each plant takes before they mature. This allows you to plan ahead if you want to grow new flowering shrubs or vegetable crops in the same area.

3) Clean and repair gardening tools

You must identify the necessary gardening tools as well. Go to your shed and see if you have the tools you will need to maintain new plant growth. Do you have a rake for tilling the soil and removing debris such as fallen leaves and twigs? Similarly, do you have a shovel for digging planting holes? If you do have them, ensure that they are clean and of good quality.

4) Get rid of weeds

When it comes to weeds, prevention is definitely better than cure. Just like your plants, the pesky weeds will also actively grown in spring. Thus, locate them in your garden early on. Remove them while their roots have not established deep in the soil. Pull the weeds and include the roots to eliminate the possibility of new growth.

You can prevent the spread of weeds by using landscape fabric, mulch, or ground cover. Both landscape fabric and a thin layer of mulch will prevent weeds from receiving enough sunlight. Consequently, ground cover such as creeping thyme and moss rose will limit the space that weeds can occupy in your garden.

5) Prepare an area for composting

A compost pile is a great way to make your own compost from yard waste and lawn clippings. Composting improves the amount of organic matter in your soil using natural waste that you typically find in your home.

If you want to compost food waste, or don’t have space for a regular compost pile, you should consider bokashi composting. Kitchen waste such as dairy, cooked food and meat aren’t typically recommended for composting, but by using bokashi composting all food waste can be composted without foul odors or harmful pathogens.

6) Remove pests

Aside from weeds, your garden should also be protected from pests. One way to do this is to get rid of unnecessary stones or wooden boards where pests can reside. Another solution is to erect barriers such as fences and border plants including pot marigold, rosemary, sage, basil, lavender, and borage. Of course, you can carefully look at your plants and remove any slugs or aphids. If you have anything more serious like rats or wasps then oyu will need to get in Pest Control Des Moines.

7) Repair fences and raised beds

Finally, you should check the fences and raised garden beds if they can support new plant growth and if not, pop down to the Construction Supply Store and get what you need to repair it.. Strong winds might have moved these structures a bit too. Before you go ahead and install new gabion stone fencing and walls in your garden, you might want to check how they may affect the plants you have (or want to have). In addition, the wet soil would have destabilized the stakes and fence posts. Adjust them and replace any rotten wooden parts once the soil isn’t soggy.

In conclusion, there are many preparations that must be accomplished before you plant anything new in spring. While these can be strenuous, they are all meant to help your new plants grow properly. We hope that our guide helped you in developing your spring garden. If you have any questions, do send us a comment.